You All Look Familiar
by MegaBob452
Summary: A world of technicolor is a marvelous thing, except for a certain blind girl. Pulled through a twister Toph finds herself in Oz, a strange place where people are different yet familiar. Munchkins, Witches, Wizards, none of it makes sense to the self-proclaimed Greatest Earthbender in the World. The magical land of Oz will be forever changed when Toph is finished with it.
1. Into the Twister

Chapter 1: Into the Twister

Toph always hated storm season.

Every fall, just after the harvest, tornados swept through the lands around Gaoling. They appeared on such a regular basis here that some referred to the area as Tornado Valley, with Gaoling sitting within the southern end. The worst of them had been known to tear swaths of destruction in the city, but tornados big enough for that usually only happened a few times each century. But there was always a fear that this year would have the big one, something that was always in the back of Toph's mind.

Of all the possible ways to meet an untimely end, only the tornado ever gave Toph nightmares. The wind had always been her opposite element, an unpredictable force of nature that was counter to the stability of earth. Without any kind of shelter the wind could take one off their feet, and then hurl the unprotected person into something very hard with lethal force. And it was just about impossible for Toph to truly anticipate a tornado with her vibration sight, as she could never see the air itself.

Momo didn't seem to appreciate it either.

The lemur was clinging to Toph's shoulder as she traveled across the countryside, riding a mound of moving earth that she controlled with earthbending. The wind was already starting to pick up around them, and Momo was growling while staring to the north-east. Toph picked up the pace and turned more southward, now heading parallel with the main road that led to Gaoling. There were no travelers along that road today, as no one in their right mind would leave their home during storm season.

For once Toph missed the big fluff ball Appa, who could have gotten her into Gaoling hours ago. But it seemed that the sky bison had known something Toph didn't, as Appa refused to fly into the area no matter how much Aang had tried to persuade him. So Toph had been dropped off as close to Gaoling as Appa would go, and she was left to travel on her own back home. At first Momo had been eager to tag along, but now it looked like the lemur was about to go flying back to Aang.

"We're nearly there," Toph said, trying to calm the lemur as best she could.

The Beifong family estate was on the northern side of the city, and Toph stopped her earthbending at the last hill before her destination. From there she walked the rest of the way, and the winds picked up some speed again. Loose leaves and other small debris were being blown across the land, swept away by the increasing winds. Toph reached the dirt path that led to the estate's front gate, and walked down that path until she reached a pair of guards standing in front of the main gate.

"You know who I am, let me in," Toph said, not even bothering to slow down.

Sure enough, the guards opened the gate to let Toph pass through. She quickly crossed the front courtyard to reach the manor, getting inside and closing the door behind her. Inside the sound of the wind went silent, save for the occasional stronger gale that rattled the walls. Now in the manor's parlor, Toph casually walked through it to go find her parents. She quickly found them in the dining room, and went straight there to meet them just before the evening meal.

"Um… I'm home?" Toph said.

All things considered, the family reunion could have been a lot worse.

It seemed that the letter Toph had Katara write for her several months ago actually made it here, with Sokka's former pet messenger bird Hawky sitting on a perch in the corner. So her mother was warm and receptive of Toph's return, even shedding a tear or two when they hugged as mother and daughter. But her father wasn't so forgiving, still resenting the fact that Toph had left last spring. Toph was already starting to think this was a bad idea, suspecting that she might not get to leave again.

There wasn't much talk happening during dinner. The servants laid out a dish of turducken with a side of spiced rice, being her father's favorite meal during the fall months. Mom and Dad ate with all the restraint of civilized folk, using their chopsticks and taking their time. Toph on the other hand was digging into her food with her fingers, stuffing her face and downing everything in just a few short minutes. At the end Toph belched, much to the disgust of her parents.

"Must you be so… rude?" Dad inquired.

"Just being me," Toph said. She laid back in her chair and crossed her arms behind her head. "Oh right, you only saw that once before."

"Don't take that tone with me," Dad scolded, slamming a fist on the table. "I'm still your father, if that still means anything to you."

"I'm here aren't I?" Toph said, waving a hand.

"And we're glad you are," Mom said. "We missed you so much."

Toph scoffed and turned her face away. "Enough to send bounty hunters after me."

"What?" Mom blurted out, turning to her husband.

"He didn't tell you?" Toph said, pointing at Dad. "He hired some guys to bring me back here."

Mom looked ready to explode as she glared at her husband. "You don't send bounty hunters after your own daughter!"

"I had to get her back somehow!" Dad yelled back.

Toph slammed her fists on the table. "I didn't want to come back! Not after you were going to lock me up in my own home!"

"It was the only way to keep you safe!" Dad yelled.

"I don't need to be kept safe!" Toph yelled. "What I need is for you to let go!"

"Enough!" Mom screamed, standing up and slamming her palms on the table. "We just got this family back together, and you two are already fighting!"

Toph stood up and threw her chair across the floor. "I knew it was a mistake to come back!"

"Wait, Toph," Mom pleaded.

"I'm done!" Toph yelled, walking out of the dining room and not looking back.

As much as she would have liked to leave home all over again, doing so right now would be suicidal. Outside the wind was blowing so fast that it picked up everything that wasn't bolted down, and then slammed that debris into anything standing out in the open. The furthest she could get to right now would be Gaoling, and even that very short trip had risks. The only safe way to get there would be to travel underground, and the effort of tunneling with earthbending just wasn't worth it.

So Toph instead returned to her bedroom, finding that it had not been touched in the half year she had been away. Toph quite literally crashed into her bed, not caring that she laid on it sideways. Momo landed and curled up on one of the pillows, making his own little bed out of the pillow about his own size. Although it was still early in the evening Toph tried to go to sleep, as there was nothing else worth doing here. It took the better part of an hour, but sure enough Toph found her way into sleep.

It did not last the night.

Momo's frantic chirping stirred Toph from slumber, and she was not very happy about that. But her annoyance with the lemur quickly faded, now that she could tell what had Momo concerned enough to wake her. The walls were vibrating enough to rattle the windows in the adjacent rooms, and Toph's vibration sight was getting slightly smudged by the shaking. And through the walls she could hear the fierce winds pounding against them, louder than any other wind she had ever heard before.

The big one was here.

Though she could not truly see it, Toph could certainly imagine the great twister threatening Gaoling at this very moment. Those who had working eyes, and were foolish enough to be outside to look at it, could see the five hundred foot wide tornado a mile away. The twister was already touching the ground and drawing up loose dirt and debris, turning it a dark brown while making the wind solid. All around the tornado fierce winds battered the estate, a harbinger of the approaching calamity.

"To the storm shelter," Toph told Momo, and got a chirp in response. But as she got up from bed a thought struck her. "Mom… Dad… you had better be heading there already."

Despite the rather heated family fight earlier, Toph still cared for her parents. Or at least enough to want to see them safe during this storm, enough for her to make sure that they got to shelter. Normally it would have been a simple matter to check their bedroom from hers, as her vibration sight would let her see past the walls and into her parents' bedroom. But the constant winds battering the mansion were vibrating the entire thing, blurring her sight enough to erase everything more than ten feet away.

So Toph hurried out of her bedroom and started running down the hallway, heading straight for her parents' bedroom. Along the way she couldn't see anyone within the ten feet of clear sight around her, a good sign as far as she was concerned. In a minute Toph reached her parents' bedroom and threw open the door, and when she entered the rather large bedroom she found it deserted. It was quite a relief, because if her parents weren't here then they must have left for the shelter.

"Time to get below ground," Toph told Momo. But then there was a tremor beneath her feet, shaking the floor and rattling everything hanging on the walls. "What in the world…?"

The twister was closing in on the estate, the bottom of the dark funnel cloud crossing over the northern boundary. Intense updrafts pulled on the mansion, shaking the whole thing all the way down to the foundation. The shaking clouded Toph's vibration sight so badly that he couldn't see at all, and the shaking all around her knocked Toph off her feet. She fell next to one wall of the bedroom, staying there while the whole mansion continued to rumble like it was going to come apart.

When her vibration sight suddenly cleared, her unfocused eyes opened wide. "That can't be right…"

It felt like the very ground had fallen away, stranding her in an island of clear sight consisting solely of the mansion. And that island of sight was moving too, spinning round and round fast enough to make Toph queasy. Momo was clinging to Toph's chest the entire time, screeching in panic all the while. From what Toph could tell it was only the two of them still in the mansion, which had seemingly parted from the Earth altogether and going up into the twister to be smashed to pieces there.

"This has to be a dream!" Toph screamed, although the more apt term was a nightmare. "Yeah… I'm going to wake up, be back in my own bed, and everything will be fine!"

Momo didn't seem to agree with her, screeching madly and tugging hard on Toph's shirt. A series of chirps that almost resembled speech followed, and Momo seemed to be tugging towards the other side of the bedroom. There had to be something beyond the window for Momo to be acting this way, but Toph couldn't see anything in the air. She wriggled her way along the bedroom wall, around the two corners, and put her back against the wall near the window to listen for what Momo was seeing outside.

Though she couldn't see it, Toph could certainly hear it over the howling wind. Toph heard laughter, from someone she knew, turning ever more warped and maniacal every second.

"Mom?" Toph blurted out. It didn't make any sense, for her mother had to be in the storm shelter right now and most definitely not outside the window. "How are you out there?"

There was no answer from outside, only more maniacal laughs becoming ever more warped and dark. But the laughs seemed to move away, fading away into the wind. It should have been a minor relief, if the mansion hadn't started to fall at the same time. A sudden feeling of weightlessness overtook Toph, all but compelling her to rise to her feet. She followed that compulsion to rise and then started running out of the bedroom, getting into the hallway and running for the very center of the mansion.

Toph only barely made it to the dining room in time. By then the mansion was falling so fast that Toph's own fall barely kept up, and she started to float away from the floor in free fall. A few seconds later she hit the ceiling, followed by Momo hitting her chest. Toph started earthbending the rock in the ceiling and all the rock she could reach, turning into a spherical shell of stone around herself and Momo. It might not make a difference, but Toph wanted some kind of buffer before the inevitable impact.

When it happened, Toph blacked out anyway.

Coming to with a monster of a migraine, Toph wondered if the dead could feel pain. She was sore all over her body, her muscles aching when she tried to move. Momo was certainly looking worse for wear, having plenty of bruises under his ruffled fur. The shell of stone Toph had made was cracked open in a few places, letting in the air from outside. Toph earthbent the stone away and put her feet on the dining room floor, and immediately noticed that something was very, very wrong.

"Momo…" Toph muttered, still trying to make sense of what her vibration sight saw. "I don't think we're in Gaoling anymore."

Somehow the mansion had stayed intact after impact, though so badly damaged it seemed ready to collapse at any given moment. It was eerily silent within the mansion's walls, telling Toph that the tornado had dispersed during her blackout. She didn't recognize the stone that now lay underneath the mansion, or the scenery that was now outside. Toph slowly made her way to the mansion's front door, taking cautious steps into the light with Momo in her arms.

One thing was certain, this wasn't Gaoling.

The mansion now rested at the edge of a very small village, the houses being substantially smaller than the usual houses Toph knew of. In front of the small houses was a small brick courtyard, which to Momo's eyes had a yellow and red spiral. There were two brick roads leading away from the courtyard, as well as a small stream that flowed out from underneath it. And on every patch of unpaved ground there were plants growing, from the simplest of bushes to the most exotic flowers.

And in those bushes Toph noticed something very suspicious. "Whoever you are, come out now!"

The nearest bush suddenly stirred, and was slowly pushed apart from inside. A squat little man emerged from his hiding place, cautiously approaching the stranger he saw. He would have seemed like an ordinary adult, if he wasn't the same size as Toph. This little man was wearing bright red clothes, and he was followed by two more little men wearing blue and yellow. Three dozen more little men emerged from all the other bushes, all wearing strange clothes that were a patchwork of primary colors.

That first little man seemed to represent the rest, slowly walking ahead of the others. "Um… Ma'am…" he twiddled his thumbs a little. "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

"Excuse me?" Toph questioned, though it startled the little men. "There's no such thing as witches."

"Then how do you explain the pink bubble?" the little man asked, pointing at it.

Indeed, there was a pink bubble floating in the distance. It was gliding through the air, so Toph couldn't see it coming. The little people certainly could though, and their eyes darted back and forth between the bubble and the stranger before them. The bubble made a beeline towards this place, and gently touched down in the courtyard. There the bubble disappeared and was replaced by a woman, who in Toph's sight had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Are you the one that-"

"Katara?" Toph blurted out.

"Excuse me?"

"Since when do you wear a dress?" Toph asked, pointing at it.

It didn't make any sense, at least not for the Katara that Toph had gotten to know over the last half year. From what Toph could tell it was Katara physically, every bodily detail correct down the hair loops. But the clothes she was wearing were completely wrong, her usual Water Tribe outfit replaced by some huge and frilly dress of a foreign style. As if to convince Toph that she wasn't hallucinating, Momo was growling at Katara from behind Toph's leg.

"I've always worn this," not-Katara said.

"No you haven't," Toph said.

"Yes I have," not-Katara insisted.

"No you- oh forget it," Toph said, shaking her head. "What do you want?"

"I'm told someone dropped a house on the Wicked Witch of the East," not-Katara answered. "There's a house, here you are, and there's all that's left of the Wicked Witch."

Just then Toph finally noticed a body crushed underneath the mansion, with only the legs sticking out and apparently undamaged. "Huh… so it is."

"As the Munchkins asked," not-Katara continued. "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

"I'm not a witch," Toph said. "My name is Toph, and I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!"

If anything, not-Katara seemed a little perplexed. "Is an earthbender a kind of witch?"

Utterly dumbfounded by that question, Toph's jaw hung open and she could not say a word. After taking a moment to start thinking again Toph held up one hand, clenched it into a fist, and then jammed it into her side. Sure enough there was actual pain from that self-inflicted blow, telling Toph that she wasn't dreaming right now. But Toph still had hopes for hallucinating all of this, anything to prove that this crazy world she found herself in wasn't real.

"This…" Toph stomped the ground, and one of the bricks popped out of the ground for her to grab, and then clenched her fist to turn the brick into gravel. "…is earthbending. And I'm the best there is at it."

"I see," not-Katara said. "Well then Toph, I am Glinda, the Good Witch of the North."

"You're sure about that?" Toph asked.

"Yes, I am," Glinda answered. Then she turned to address all the little people coming out of the bushes. "It's alright everyone. This is the earthbender that killed the Wicked Witch. You may all come out and thank her."

All of the little men that were in the open approached Toph and Glinda, followed by many more of the so called Munchkins coming out of hiding from just about every place imaginable. Glinda escorted Toph into the courtyard, and by then there were at least a hundred Munchkins flooding the place. It seemed that Glinda's good word was enough to convince the Munchkins that Toph was a hero to them, and in a few short moments it seemed they were ready to throw a gigantic celebration.

"All this over an accident?" Toph questioned, scratching the side of her head. Then she closed her eyes and shrugged. "Oh well, an excuse to party is an excuse to party."

Somewhere a band started playing an upbeat melody, though Toph couldn't figure out where it was coming from for the life of her. She didn't really care anyway, not when there was a chance to party. Singing and dancing took over all of the Munchkins, their joy so infectious that it was difficult for Toph to keep any restraint. Then there was a small parade of marching Munchkins going around the courtyard, and Toph got to have a little ride in a chariot for all the other Munchkins to see her.

After the short chariot ride Toph got to meet several different Munchkins, from the mayor to the coroner to the lollipop guild and everything in between, though she doubted she would remember any of their names. All of them were so happy that Toph simply had to smile, if only to make them all even happier. For all the other Munchkins Toph resolved to smile and wave, taking joy in the joy it brought to them. It was quite intoxicating to be here, taking in the hero's welcome from all the happy people.

"I think I'm going to like it here," Toph admitted, and Momo nodded in agreement. Then she heard a collective gasp in the crowd. "Me and my big mouth…"

A plume of red smoke billowed up in the courtyard, not too far from the crashed mansion. The Munchkins fled from it as quick as they could, some of them tripping over themselves and each other as panic took over. In Toph's sight a woman suddenly appeared within the smoke, wearing what could only be described as stereotype witch clothing. Robe, pointed hat, broomstick, it was all there. Normally Toph would have laughed, if the Munchkins weren't running away in fear.

And yet, as this witch walked to the mansion, Toph recognized the body in the witch's clothes. "Azula?"

There wasn't any reaction to that name, at least none that Toph could find. But that still didn't rule out the possibility of some elaborate deception, as Azula was the only person she knew that could fool the way vibrations betrayed lies. Not-Azula stopped at the mansion and crouched by the crushed body, examining what was left of the woman underneath. Then she got back up and walked towards Glinda and Toph, with a very vengeful look on her.

"Who killed my sister?" Not-Azula demanded. "Who killed the Witch of the East? Was it you?"

"That was me, totally calling it," Toph answered. She heard Momo chirp something into her ear. "Oh, but the mansion did most of the work, you know, with the crushing and all."

"Well my little pretty, I know a thing or two about crushing too," Not-Azula boasted.

"Are you forgetting the ruby slippers?" Glinda asked.

"The what?" Toph muttered, wondering where that topic came from.

"The slippers… yes," Not-Azula said, and she turned to go retrieve them from the crushed body.

By now Toph was convinced that this Wicked Witch definitely wasn't Azula, despite the picture to the contrary that her feet were giving her. Toph watched the Wicked Witch crouch beside the body, hands reaching for the ruby slippers still on dead feet. But then the slippers vanished and the legs shriveled up underneath the mansion, much to the shock of the Wicked Witch. Toph felt something off from Glinda beside her, which gave her a bad feeling before something went very wrong.

"They're gone," the Wicked Witch said.

Suddenly the world Toph saw went very fuzzy, as if all the fine details had been mixed together. She could still see the people all around her, but their faces were blurred and it was difficult to read their expressions. Something was interfering with the vibrations as they went through her feet, altering the way they described a world she could not see. A second later Toph figured out what happened, her feet were covered by a pair of ruby slippers.

Toph backed away from Glinda, nearly tripping on a step that she would have seen if the slippers weren't messing with her sight. "What did you do?!"

"She put my ruby slippers on you," the Wicked Witch answered, already approaching Toph. "Give them back to me or-"

"They're all yours," Toph said, already dropping onto her rear end.

"What?" both witches said at the same time.

"I don't wear shoes," Toph clarified. Sitting cross-legged, Toph pulled on one of the slippers. "They mess with my- why won't it come off?"

Try as she might to pull it off the slipper would not leave her foot, despite finding nothing that could possibly be keeping it on. Toph switched to the other slipper and tried to pull it off, but like its companion this slipper was just as stuck to her foot. Then she tried pushing against the heel of one slipper with the bottom of the other, yet it still would not come off. So Toph put her hands on the ground behind her and held up both feet, pointing them straight at the Wicked Witch.

"On three, pull," Toph suggested.

However, when the Wicked Witch reached for the slippers, sparks shot out to burn her hands. "Augh…"

"It's too late," Glinda gloated. "There they are, and there they'll stay."

"The hell they will," Toph denied, standing back up and taking a few more steps away from Glinda. She then faced the Wicked Witch and held both hands apart. "Sorry lady, but they've got to come off."

Toph lifted her right foot, slammed it down as hard as she could, and the ruby slipper exploded.

"WHAT!" the Wicked Witch screamed.

Her sight clearing somewhat, Toph smiled at her success. Magical or not, it seemed that the ruby in the slippers was still vulnerable to earthbending. Only the sole of the slipper and the felt around her toes remained, though torn in places where exploding ruby had ripped the fabric. It seemed that the attachment enchantment was gone when Toph peeled off the tattered remains, and she set a bare foot back on the ground, and then proceeded to do the exact same thing to the left ruby slipper.

"Ah much better," Toph said, now that both bare feet were on the ground. Her vibration sight fully restored, Toph could see the abashed look on Glinda and the absolutely furious expression on the Wicked Witch. "What?"

"Those were magical ruby slippers!" the Wicked Witch screamed. "Do you have any idea the power you have just destroyed?!"

"Nope," Toph admitted. She crossed her arms and turned away from Glinda, through jerking her head in her direction. "It's not really my fault anyway. _She's_ the one who put them on my feet in the first place. She really should have known this was going to happen."

Now Glinda was starting to look a little furious. "Why you insolent little-"

"I've heard it all before," Toph interrupted.

"You're both dead," the Wicked Witch threatened.

"Rubbish," Glinda said. "You have no power here. Begone, before someone drops a house on you too."

The Wicked Witch flinched, taking a glance up. "Very well, I'll bide my time. But you, my fine lady, have made an enemy today. True, I can't attend to you now as I'd like, but I will have justice. Until then just try to stay out of my way, just try."

Toph cracked both sets of knuckles. "You just try, I dare you."

Seemingly taking that as a challenge, the Wicked Witch pointed a finger at Toph. "Oh I will. I'll get you my pretty and your little lemur too!"

Her threat made clear, the Wicked Witch walked back to the spot where she had first arrived. A plume of smoke billowed out from where she stood, obscuring her from sight before she disappeared from Toph's. Seemingly for theatric effect a plume of fire erupted, and everyone winced from the sudden heat. When the flames and the smoke cleared the Wicked Witch was gone, though a cackling laugh told everyone that she would be back.

When that was over, Toph turned toward Glinda and pointed a finger at her. "I don't know what your plan was, but I'm pretty sure it's ruined now. So either tell me how to get home, or stay out of my way."

"You would threaten a good witch?" Glinda questioned.

"I threaten a lot of people," Toph said. "And a lot of them were much scarier than you."

Glinda scoffed and shook her head. "There is a wizard who lives in the Emerald City. He should be able to help you. Just follow the yellow brick road."

"Got it," Toph said. She turned away from Glinda and started walking in a straight line.

"Where are you going?" Glinda asked.

"Down the brick road," Toph answered.

"You're on the red brick road," Glinda said.

Toph stopped in her tracks, and then slapped her forehead. "They look the same to me, I'm _blind!_ "

"Just go the other way," Glinda clarified, pointing in the right direction.

"Thank you," Toph said, turning around. She walked across most of the courtyard, then stopped and turned back. "Aren't you coming?"

"Excuse me?" Glinda questioned.

"You got me into this mess," Toph said. "You're going to get me out of it."

"I'm afraid not," Glinda said.

Before Toph could argue with her the pink bubble reappeared around Glinda, and soon she disappeared from Toph's sight within it. The bubble floated up and out of the courtyard, heading off into the distance before vanishing. For a moment Toph was alone, until all the cowering Munchkins started coming back out of hiding. Toph ignored the Munchkins and started walking down the brick road, starting a journey that she suspected would be a long and dangerous one.

"Well Momo…" Toph said, poking the lemur sitting on her shoulder. "Looks like we have to go find a wizard, and hopefully beat him up."

Momo chirped something into her ear.

"I'll get you back to Aang soon as I can," Toph promised. "First, we'll just have to see where we go on this yellow brick road."

 _A/N: This short story started as a bunch of blind jokes in a world based around color, and kind of took off from there._


	2. Companions

Chapter 2: Companions

Where did they get so many bricks?

Toph was wondering that after walking down the yellow brick road for an hour, having left the land of the Munchkins far behind her. Judging by the reaction Glinda made to earthbending, it seemed that all of these bricks had to have been made by hand. Who could possibly have the time, labor, or desire to make the tens of thousands of bricks needed to build this road, Toph couldn't figure out. She didn't dare earthbend a wave to travel faster, not when it would destroy all that hard work someone did here.

Riding a wave of earth beside the road would have been a good idea, except that the road cut through expansive fields of corn. She didn't want to wreck some farmer's livelihood either, just to cut down on her travel time. Besides, it was a nice day in the great outdoors, and Toph figured she might as well enjoy the fresh air and the calm breeze blowing through the fields. It would have been a perfect stroll, if it weren't for those incessant gull-crows cawing at everything that moved.

"Shut up already!" Toph yelled. Despite that, the gull-crows only got louder. "Ugh… aren't farmers supposed to have scarecrows to deal with this?!"

Fed up with the cawing, Momo leapt from Toph's shoulder and glided toward the nearest group of gull-crows. Screeching a loud as his little lungs would allow Momo barged through the annoying birds, scattering them as he went through their airspace. The gull-crows regrouped further down the fields, and Momo followed them to disrupt the flock again. It took Momo several passes through the flock to get the birds to leave, and Toph was glad to hear the cawing disappear into the distance.

Toph held out one arm and Momo landed on her wrist. "Good work."

"Thank you."

"AH!" Toph yelled, surprised by the voice coming from the field, from a person that she could not find. "What the… who's there?"

At first Toph couldn't tell exactly where the stranger was talking from, as her vibration sight wasn't getting a clear picture of a body. Nobody was standing on the ground within her range, while the volume of the stranger's voice told her that he had to be nearby. On closer inspection it seemed that there was someone strapped to the top of a wooden pole, barely visible to her while the wood muffled the vibrations coming from the grateful stranger.

The stranger didn't seem to notice that Toph had trouble seeing him. "Those birds just aren't scared of me anymore. Thanks for getting rid of them."

"Twinkletoes?" Toph blurted out, recognizing the voice now that she was actually listening. "What are you doing there? Did you lose a bet?"

"I've always been up here," not-Aang answered.

"Oh great... this game again…" Toph muttered, slowly shaking her head in disbelief. "Let me guess, your name is not Aang?"

"Nope," not-Aang said. "I'm just a humble Scarecrow."

Momo leapt up onto the Scarecrow's shoulder, nibbled at his ear, and then leapt back to Toph. The lemur was shaking his head, just as perplexed at Toph was.

"Of course you are," Toph said. She walked over to the edge of the road and jumped into the field, glad to have soil in between her toes again. "So what's your deal? I get the feeling you're supposed to be someone important."

"I'm just here to scare the crows away," Scarecrow said. He let out a long groan and looked at the ground, a frown plastered on his face. "But I've just plain run out of ideas to do that. I think I need a better brain if I'm going to do my job right."

"Better brain huh?" Toph said, walking up to the wooden post. "And just where exactly are you supposed to get that?"

"From the Wizard of course," Scarecrow answered. "They say you can get anything from him in the Emerald City. Alas, I can't leave my post unattended."

"Sure you can," Toph said. She stomped the ground and made some hand motions, and a larger than life statue of Toph rose from the ground to be a replacement scarecrow. "There, your job's covered. Well until some jerk comes along and breaks it."

"Neat," Scarecrow said. He pointed to the back of the post. "Now if you could just bend that nail and get me down, I'd be very grateful."

Toph got behind Scarecrow, clenched a fist and pulled it back. The metalbending motion made a large iron nail come free from the post, dropping Scarecrow onto the ground. "There you go mister- oh that is just messed up!"

Now that Scarecrow was on the ground Toph could properly feel the vibrations from him, and they painted a picture that seemed just plain wrong. The head, hands, and feet seemed like they were Aang's, but the rest was very different. There was actual straw inside this straw man, packed within the baggy clothes of the Scarecrow. Somehow the straw moved like muscle and bone as Scarecrow stood up, just as short as Aang was.

"Thank you, again," Scarecrow said, stretching his arms and legs before taking the first steps he's had in a long time. "I don't suppose you're heading to the Emerald City too? I could really use a travel buddy through the bad parts of the road."

"There are bad parts?" Toph asked.

"Oh yes, though it's no trouble at all if you're in a group," Scarecrow said. "Or at least, so I'm told. I don't get out much."

"Well then come along," Toph said, already walking back to the road. "I could use someone to talk to and pass the time."

Momo grumbled something.

"Someone that can talk back," Toph corrected.

Momo grunted and looked away.

"I can do that," Scarecrow said. He followed Toph onto the road, eager to get started on their journey together. "There's plenty of daylight left and plenty of road up ahead, and there are so many things that we can talk about along the way."

After about five minutes Toph was starting to wish she'd left Scarecrow where she found him. He might not actually be Aang, but he certainly talked as much as Aang did. But Scarecrow did mention that there was a fork in the road up ahead, and when they reached it he made sure they took the correct turn. From there they left the fields of corn behind them, heading into some woods on low lying hills. By then it was nearly time for lunch, and Toph could hear both their stomachs rumbling.

"Is there a place to eat around here?" Toph asked, and Momo's fast incoherent chattering meant the same thing.

"Just some apple trees over there," Scarecrow answered, pointing at a small grove not very far beyond the side of the road.

"That will do," Toph said. She walked off the road and into the woods, heading for one of the apple trees close to the road. But when she got to it she felt something change, something that got Momo to jump off and fly away. "What the…"

The apple tree was moving. And one branch was swinging right at her head.

Toph ducked just in time to get under the moving branch, feeling the breeze of it brushing the top of her hair. When the branch swung back the other way Toph took a few steps back, getting beyond the branch's reach and feeling the breeze in front of her face. Then she stomped the ground and a slab of rock rose from beneath the tree, uprooting it and toppling the whole thing over. And much to her surprise, while the tree fell it screamed.

"Argh! Why you… Tree Murderer!"

"Wait… You can talk?" Toph questioned, only now noticing a wooden face on the tree trunk. "Since when can trees talk?"

"We always could!"

Several voices said that at once, coming from all the other apple trees around Toph. "Well this is a first. I didn't think I could tick off a whole forest."

An apple hit Toph in the back of the head, getting her to complain and rub the small bruise forming there. Several more apples hit her in the chest and back, until Toph raised her arms to shield her more sensitive areas. It had always been difficult to see things thrown through the air, much less thrown from the trees. So Toph stomped the ground to raise a ring of earth around herself, blocking all the other apples that the trees were throwing.

A few apples got over the ring of earth and bounced off the inner edge, dropping right into Toph's open hand. One side of the apple was bruised by the impact, so Toph bit into the other side. "Hmm… tart, and just a bit sweet."

Toph threw her arms apart to shatter the ring of earth and hurl large pieces away, each hitting one of the trees still throwing apples. It stopped the trees from throwing more, and Toph took a moment to scoop up bruised apples into her arms. Then she walked back to the brick road, sharing her haul with Scarecrow. Sure the apples were all bruised on at least one side, but they were still edible and were quite delicious.

And sure enough, once the threat of talking trees had passed, Momo was back on Toph's shoulder and biting into an apple.

"That was some trick," Scarecrow said, then taking a bite out of an apple and enjoying the taste. "It was certainly effective."

"Oh that was nothing," Toph bragged. "I could have done so much worse to them if I felt like it, but I just didn't feel like it."

"I believe it," Scarecrow said. He finished his first apple and put several more of them in his pockets for later. "What else can you do?"

"Well I can…" Toph trailed off there, noticing something right on the edge of her sight. Now that she wasn't so hungry or being attacked, she could take the time to focus on whatever it was. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

Not too far into the woods, near a log cabin built next to a dirt path, someone was standing next to an ordinary tree. At first he seemed to be a statue, for he wasn't moving at all. There was a woodcutter's axe in his hand, and he was stuck in a position to chop down a tree. Toph wasn't sure which was worse, that the person appeared to be made of tin, or that the person had a familiar head. Even when he had a metal face, there was no mistaking that wolf-tail ponytail.

"Sokka?" Toph blurted out. She walked over to the metal man and banged a fist on his chest, hearing a hollow echo inside but not getting a physical reaction. "Is that you in there, or are you someone else in this crazy place?"

Momo hopped onto the metal man's head, and started hitting the metal with his itty bitty fists.

A muffled plea came out of him, as his lips couldn't move.

"Too bad you're not a ventriloquist," Toph commented. On closer inspection she could feel rust along all of his joints, including his jaw. "Did you get caught in the rain or something?"

A humph was close enough to a yes.

"Well this is a simple enough fix," Toph said, and Momo was leaping back to Toph's shoulder to get out of the way.

"I found some oil," Scarecrow said, spotting an oil can on a nearby tree stump.

Toph was already grabbing the stranger's jaw, and with a slight squeeze of her fingers all the rust on his face came off as dust. "That better?"

"Ah… much better, thank you," the stranger said. He took a second to stretch his jaw. "That is quite the magic touch you have."

"It's not ma- oh never mind," Toph said. "I'm going to assume that your name isn't Sokka, so what should I call you?"

"People just call me the Tin Man," he answered, trying to tip his head but getting a screech from his neck instead. "Could you work your magic?"

"Say please," Toph asked.

"Please," Tin Man said.

"Pretty please," Toph said.

"Pretty please," Tin Man echoed.

"With a cherry on top."

"With a-"

"Here," Scarecrow said, having brought the oil can to Tin Man.

"Spoil sport," Toph grumbled.

Scarecrow applied the oil can to all the various joints in the Tin Man, starting from the top and working his way down. At first he used generous amounts of oil, until he realized that he was starting to run out. The Tin Man's arms and torso were extra lubed and fully moving now, while the legs ended up with the bare minimum and squeaked when they moved. When the oil can was empty Scarecrow tossed it away, and he saw the Tin Man take a step and then stretch his limbs.

"Thank you," Tin Man said. With his hands he stretched his neck, getting a metallic pop out of it. "I've been stuck in that pose for the last year. As I'm sure you can imagine, that gave me a really bad crick in my neck."

"And no one going by stopped to help?" Scarecrow asked.

"They all thought I was a statue," Tin Man answered. Then he turned towards the fallen apple tree. "And they weren't helping with saying otherwise."

"Yeah they are real jerks," Toph said.

Tin Man spotted the tree that was toppled over, and he nodded at it. "I see. Well thanks for that too. Those guys always mocked me when it rained."

"You're welcome," Toph said. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder and at the road. "I think it's time we got back on the move."

"Where are you headed?" Tin Man asked.

"The Emerald City," Scarecrow answered.

"Neat," Tin Man said. "Care for one more?"

"What do you need there?" Toph asked.

"Well…" Tin Man said, not sure what the right words were. So he tapped his fist against his chest, getting an echo that all three of them could hear. "Hollow. There's nothing in here but cold air. I'd just like to have something to put in there to fill the void."

Seemingly just to check, Momo hopped back to Tin Man and hit him some more.

"So you want a full set of metal organs?" Toph figured.

"Right now, I'd settle for just a heart," Tin Man admitted. "So can I come along?"

"Sure, why not," Toph said with a shrug. She started walking back to the road, Momo back on her shoulder, and shaking her head when her feet stepped on brick. "Five gold coins say the next one is going to be Zuko."

"You won't get to the next one."

Toph knew that voice far too well, even if it was being used by someone that was clearly a different person. She couldn't quite make out the physical form of Azula from here, as it was on the roof of a nearby log cabin. The Wicked Witch that wore Azula's face had been watching from her perch on the roof, studying her foe to learn more about her behavior. Toph turned in her direction and sighed, throwing her arms apart in frustration.

"Whatever happened to biding your time?" Toph demanded, whereas Momo was growling at the witch from his perch on her shoulder.

By then Scarecrow and Tin Man reached the road, quickly spotting the Wicked Witch. "You know that hag," both said, both surprised.

Sorely tempted to say jinx, Toph resisted that urge to instead stay on the matter at hand. "So what, are we going to have the big fight now? I think it's a little early for that."

"Yes, you've only just begun," the Wicked Witch said. Then she noticed Scarecrow and Tin Man, and figured it might be worth a try to scare them off. "Helping the little lady along my fine gentlemen? Better stay away if you know what's good for you. Or I'll stuff you into a mattress, and smelt you down into tea set."

"Oddly specific threats," Toph commented. She assumed her favorite earthbending stance. "I like them simple. I'm going to crush you."

"That's the spirit," the Wicked Witch said. She held up a hand with her palm facing up, and a ball of fire ignited in it. "Catch!"

The Wicked Witch threw the ball of fire at Toph, falling in a curved arch toward her target. Scarecrow panicked and hit behind Tin Man, fearful of catching on fire and burning down into ash. Toph merely threw one arm up and a curved wall of brick rose from the road, blocking the ball of fire and leaving a small scorch on the brick. She then slid the wall back into the road, leaving only a line of broken bricks as evidence of earthbending.

"You must be playing right now," Toph said, letting her arms drop to her sides. "The Azula I know would call that firebending pathetic."

Momo made a high pitched laugh.

"You tell her," Toph encouraged.

"Oh I have much more in store for you," the Wicked Witch eagerly promised. "And you are going to see it soon enough."

A plume of smoke billowed up from beneath the Wicked Witch, and when the smoke dispersed she had completely vanished.

Toph waited a moment to make sure she did not reappear, and then turned to face the others. "I don't think she realizes I'm blind."

"You are?" Tin Man questioned, now looking at Toph's milky white eyes, which were not looking back. "You could have fooled me."

"She has that effect on people," Scarecrow said.

"Eh I see more than most people with eyes anyway," Toph said, holding her hands apart and shrugging. She stepped over the line of broken bricks and walked down the road. "Now let's get going before something else shows up."

Now well into the afternoon, the three of them went on their way down the yellow brick road. The woods came to an end soon after the cabin, the road cutting through some open plains. However that part of the road was not very long, after a mile it turned into a forest so thick its canopy obscured the sky. Although it was still a few hours before sunset it became as dark as night in the forest, shrouding much of the wilderness from prying eyes.

Toph strolled through the forest like it was as bright as day. Dark places had never been a problem for her, this one was no different. However she could clearly hear the sounds of the many wild animals that lived here, all of them beyond the range of her vibration sight. They made quite an unsettling symphony of feral sound, enough to make her a little uneasy here. But while Toph was only slightly nervous, Scarecrow and Tin Man were quite clearly worried, and Momo was shaking.

"So…" Toph started to ask. "What kinds of animals live in this forest?"

Scarecrow looked at Tin Man. "Do they eat straw?"

"I'm sure some do," Tin Man answered. "But I think it's mostly lions, tigers, and bears."

The last one made Toph stop in her tracks, resulting in Scarecrow bumping into her back and falling on his rear end. "Say that again."

"Lions, tigers, and bears," Tin Man repeated.

"Don't you mean moose-lions, monkey-tigers, and platypus-bears?" Toph asked.

"Just lions, tigers, and bears," Tin Man repeated again.

"What about lion-tigers, tiger-bears, and bear-lions?" Toph asked. She could tell that Tin Man was shaking his head. "Okay… how about lion-tiger-bears?"

"Nope," Tin Man answered.

"Huh…" Toph said. She was utterly speechless for a bit, and when she came out of it she shrugged. "So this is where Bosco came from."

Momo nodded a few times.

"What's a Bosco?" Scarecrow asked.

Before he could get an answer there was a very loud roar, one that silenced all the other animals nearby. Scarecrow and Tin Man could see it in the trees, illuminated by the very little light that made it through the treetops. But being in the trees made it difficult for Toph to see it, the vibrations muffled by the wood and masking the finer details. It was some kind of beast and it roared again, followed by it jumping from the trees and landing on the road, and the clear sight made Toph's jaw drop.

"Appa?!"

It was the big furry sky bison alright. However, he was only half the size that Toph remembered, scaled down to twice the height of a man and four times the mass. He was also standing on just two legs instead of the usual six, the front four now held like two pairs of arms. Other than that he seemed like the same furry beast that Toph always knew, just smaller and standing upright. Appa blocked the road ahead of Toph, and held up his upper right paw.

"Are you looking for a fight?"

Speechless at hearing the bison speak, Toph couldn't even accept a challenge. It was just so surreal to encounter this, like being in a waking nightmare or sleep-deprived daydream. She turned to her left and walked off the edge of the road, stepping on thick grass until she reached the closest tree. The trunk was about three times as thick as Toph's torso, and she felt the bark with one hand. All eyes were on Toph, right when she slammed the tree with her head.

"Ow…" Toph said. She slammed her head into the tree again. "Ow…"

"What are you doing?" Tin Man asked.

"Trying, ow… To, ow… Wake, ow… UP!" Toph said, hitting her head after each word. She stopped, put her back against the tree, and slid down to sit in the dirt. "And it's not working."

Momo hopped down to Toph's lap and curled up into it, encouraging her to pet him for some soothing therapy, even though Toph declined.

The bison lowered the paws he had been holding up, and tilted his head in a curious manner. "I've never seen someone so odd."

"Don't you start!" Toph yelled. Despite the swelling bruise on her forehead, she stood back up and pointed at the bison, throwing Momo off her in the process. "You're the final nail in the coffin of my grip on reality. Either I'm dreaming everything that's happened in this crazy land, or I've finally snapped like the blue fire lady!"

Scarecrow was scratching at the side of his head. "I… have no response to that."

Tin Man tried to be more sympathetic. "You're not going crazy."

"Could have fooled me," the bison admitted.

"You're not helping," Tin Man said, now facing the bison.

Toph rested her head against the tree. "You really don't see anything wrong with a talking bison?"

"You do?" Scarecrow asked.

At that remark Toph couldn't help but borrow Sokka's infamous slap to the forehead, ignoring the pain from hitting the bruise there. "I'm definitely crazy."

"We know already," the bison said.

"And you can shut up!" Toph yelled. She stomped a foot on the ground, and a hard stone ripped out of the ground and was flung over the road, which struck the bison in the face.

"Ow…" the bison yelped, stumbling backward and getting much further away from Toph. "What did you have to do that for?"

"You know why," Toph said. She walked back onto the road and assumed an earthbending stance, but when she did so she noticed the bison flinching. "Scared? Oh you should be."

Momo was now standing between Toph and the bison, growling at him and looking ready to attack at any provocation.

"I think he really is scared," Scarecrow said, seeing the bison trembling and walking back step by step. "Who knew the big guy was a coward inside?"

"I did," the bison admitted, having backed away to some trees just beyond the edge of the road. "I haven't any courage at all."

Toph relaxed and walked over to the other two, beckoned for Momo to come back to her, and shook her head before facing the bison. "Come on."

"What?" the bison questioned.

"I see where this is going, and I can't even see," Toph said. She pointed at Scarecrow and then at Tin Man. "He says he needs a brain, and he says he needs a heart, and it looks like you need courage. And I bet you think you can get it in this Emerald City too."

"I think so," the bison said. He took a few steps towards Toph, and put his first two paws together. "Do you really want me to come along with you?"

"If it gets my crazy hallucination over with sooner, yes," Toph said. She started walking down the road again, gesturing for the bison to follow. "One question though, what's your name?"

"I don't really have one," the bison admitted. "I'm just a big Cowardly Bison."

"Yeah no, I'm not calling you that," Toph said. "Do you mind if I just call you Appa? You seem like an Appa to me."

"Appa…" the bison muttered, getting a feel for that name. "I like the sound of it."

"Good," Toph said. Now that all four of them were walking down the road, Toph picked up the pace. "Let's get out of this forest already."

It took several hours for the party of four to walk through the rest of the forest, passing through the thickest portions of it before the canopy began to thin. But there wasn't any more sunlight passing through the holes they started to find in the vegetation, and they had to concede that the night had come. So they made camp alongside the road, eating what little food they had for their supper before going to sleep.

On the next day Toph was up bright and early, with a rumbling stomach that was yearning to be filled. Fortunately Appa knew which of the forest's plants were safe to eat, and for breakfast he provided an assortment of nutritious mushrooms and wild rice. By midmorning stomachs were full and they were ready to go, and with sunlight poking through the trees to light their way. And so they were back on the road again, rested and refreshed for another day of travel.

The trees gradually thinned and the forest came to end, the boundary up against a large and expansive meadow. Toph kept on walking like nothing had changed, until she noticed that the other three had stopped in their tracks. "What is it?"

"There it is," Scarecrow said, pointing across the meadow.

"What is?" Toph asked, figuring that they were seeing something beyond the range of her sight. "What do you guys see?"

"The Emerald City," Tin Man answered.

Far off into the distance, almost to the horizon, the Emerald City stood against the deep blue sky. True to its name the towers of emerald stabbed at the heavens, each one looking like some massive crystal. It almost seemed to glow with green light, even if it was a trick of the sunlight reflecting off the shiny emerald surfaces. It was quite a glorious sight for the three with working eyes, and judging by their amazed expressions Toph wished that she could see it too.

"How far away is it?" Toph asked.

"A couple of miles," Tin Man answered.

"In a straight line," Scarecrow added. "But the road goes way over that way."

Sure enough the road made a sharp turn to the right, going around the meadow and easily tripling the distance to the Emerald City from here. The meadow itself was filled with vast fields of poppies, but the ground underneath them was just as level as it was everywhere else nearby. From what Toph could tell there weren't any sinkholes or soft spots underground, really nothing to justify such a long detour around the meadow instead of cutting through it.

"Is this place important?" Toph asked.

"Not really," Appa answered. "Why?"

"Would anyone mind if something bad happened to it?" Toph asked.

"I don't think so," Appa said.

"All in favor of a shortcut, say I," Toph requested. She heard four sets of I's, including her own, and a short chirp that had to be Momo. "The I's have it, we are taking a shortcut."

Together the four of them walked into the meadow, taking a few steps through the first field of poppies. This time it was Toph that stopped while the other three kept going, prompting them to stop and see what she was doing. Toph used earthbending to raise a mound of dirt underneath them, and then propelled it forward to carry them along. The three were surprised by the moving earth and enjoying the fast motion, and Toph snickered at being the one to carry an Appa for a change.

"We'll be there in no time," Toph promised.

Plowing through the meadow utterly destroyed the poppy fields in Toph's way, shredding the pretty little flowers and scattering the remains to the winds. A dirt path was left behind in Toph's wake, quickly littered with the falling remnants of poppies. In front of the moving earth some of the shredded poppies were blown right into the faces, a real annoyance when they had to breathe. They all had a thin layer of poppy pollen on them after the short trip, coming to a stop at the far end of the meadow.

"And here we are," Toph said, stepping foot on the brick road. "How much time do you think we saved? Two hours? Three?"

Momo started to mutter something, right before he fell off Toph's shoulder.

"What's the matter with him?" Tin Man asked, pointing at Momo lying still on the brick.

"I don't know," Toph said. She covered her mouth while she yawned. "Tired maybe?"

"But we just… got up… this… morning…" Appa said, right before he collapsed with a loud thud.

"Out cold," Scarecrow said, trying to wake Appa. "I think we have a problem here."

"Ya think?" Toph said, and she yawned again. Her view of the world was fading, and she suddenly felt herself falling. "Nighty night."

* * *

When she slowly regained consciousness there was a pain in her right side, which Toph had fallen on top of. At first she didn't have a clear view of her surroundings, so she dearly hoped that she was back at the family mansion after a particularly bad storm. But no, when her vision cleared she was still on that brick road, although at the edge of the Emerald City. It seemed that she had been carried here, while a still sleeping Appa had been dragged the entire way.

Spotting Scarecrow and Tin Man watching over her, Toph groaned as she sat upright. "What in the world happened?"

"Poison," Tin Man answered. "Something in those poppies, they put people to sleep."

"That was why the road went around the fields," Scarecrow said.

"Would have been nice for someone to put up a sign," Toph said. Her vision was clearing some more, enough to see munchkin crowds around them and in front of the city's tall buildings. "Ugh… here we go again…"

"She's awake," one local munchkin said, and cheerful faces spread across the crowds. "The Good Witch of the Earth is awake."

Toph gave Scarecrow a curious look.

"They saw your shortcut," Scarecrow said. "I had to come up with something."

Already the crowds were beginning to celebrate, and the noise was getting awfully loud for Toph's still tired ears. "Quiet down over there!"

For a little incentive to comply Toph thrust a fist upward, and a person size block of stone was hurled from the ground towards one of the crowds. There were the expected screams and the munchkins immediately got out of the way, and no one was hurt when the stone block hit something. The only casualty was a now smashed up vegetable cart, and that loss was worth it for the sweet silence. But while the crowds were quiet, one loud voice could be quite clearly heard.

"MY CABBAGES!"

Immediately Toph was on her feet and checking everything she saw with them, and she quickly found the source of that voice. "No way…"

Sure enough there was a scrawny older gentleman beside the smashed vegetable cart, cradling the few still intact cabbages in his arms. He was wearing loose fitting old clothes, which had once been green but had faded to brown long ago. He saw Toph approaching and instinctively backed away, fearing for the few cabbages he still had left. He got behind the smashed cart and looked over it, still seeing Toph coming right towards him.

"Oh no…" the cabbage merchant muttered. "Not you again!"

Toph stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait… again?"


	3. Magnificent

Chapter 3: Magnificent

"You know who I am? And you're the person I think you should be?"

Toph wasn't sure what to make of this chance meeting, finding someone that she only knew of as an unfortunate Cabbage Merchant. Up until now everyone she met had possessed the form of someone she knew, but behaved as if they were someone completely different. But this guy appeared to be exactly as Toph remembered him, and he in turn knew exactly who Toph was. The fact that the Cabbage Merchant was cowering in fear, for both himself and his remaining cabbages, confirmed this.

"Yes!" the Cabbage Merchant answered, inching his way back from Toph. "You're part of that gang that keeps destroying my cabbages! From Omashu to Ba Sing Se and everywhere in between, my cabbages are destroyed! Even here I can't keep them away from you!"

"You're the real deal alright," Toph said, and Momo nodded in agreement.

Behind her two of the three new companions approached them, with Scarecrow in front. "Who's this?"

The merchant saw Aang's face in the Scarecrow, and cowered behind the shattered vegetable cart again. "Stay away! Stay away from my cabbages!"

"Back off you guys," Toph insisted, holding an arm in front of Scarecrow and Tin Man to keep them at bay. "He thinks you're the same guys I think you look like."

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Tin Man asked, quite clearly puzzled.

"Just back off," Toph insisted again. She waited long enough for the merchant's heartrate to drop before she got closer to him. "Look, this probably won't mean much, but I'm sorry for your cabbages. If my friends were here, I'm sure they would say sorry too."

"But they are here," the merchant said, pointing at the two behind Toph.

"Oh right…" Toph muttered, not sure of how to explain this. "Um… these aren't really the people you remember. I know they look like them, but they aren't really them."

"That doesn't make any sense," the merchant said.

"I know," Toph admitted. Right then she caught Momo leaping into her arms. "That is why I want to know why you're the only person here that makes sense."

By now the merchant was beginning to calm down, finally seeing that Scarecrow and Tin Man weren't really Aang or Sokka. "This place keeps getting weirder and weirder."

"So it's not just me going crazy," Toph said.

"I thought I was starting to lose it," the merchant admitted, sighing before he continued. "Between the monkey-birds, strange mice that are only mice, and a whole village of clay-folk, I kind of wished that twister had killed me."

"That twister?" Toph repeated, now having an idea of what was going on. "You didn't happen to be visiting Omashu before coming here, did you?"

"I was trying to set up shop there," the merchant answered. "Why?"

"I was visiting my folks in Omashu," Toph said. "If I have this right, it was the twister that brought us here, somehow."

The cabbage merchant nodded, and looked around. "Wherever here is."

"There has to be a way back," Toph said. She held one hand towards the merchant. "So until we find it, truce?"

"Truce," the merchant agreed, taking Toph's hand and letting her help him back up. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Toph," she answered. She gestured to the others, one of which was still sleeping. "They may look like Aang, Sokka, and Appa, but they are Scarecrow, Tin Man, and… well Appa."

"Gan-Lan," the merchant introduced himself. "But my friends call me Gan."

"You have friends?" Toph questioned.

"We found a buyer for the cabbages."

Coming from around the block, the voice of a tiny girl carried a long way. She was only a foot tall and scaled down accordingly, resembling a teenager made entirely out of clay. What would be her hair was in the shape of two long braids, each resting on her shoulders. At her size she had to run just to match the pace of a regular person walking, which seemed off somehow to Toph's sight. Yet the face was unfamiliar, which Toph didn't know if that was good or bad.

Right behind her was someone about the same size as the Munchkins, but there the similarity ended. He appeared to be some kind of monkey, but with the feathery wings of a crow sticking out of his back. He also seemed to be rather old for a monkey-bird, with a face that would have suggested middle-aged on a human. He even had a thin mustache and a ponytail, and just like the little clay girl Toph had no idea who this monkey-bird should have been in the normal world.

And from inside Gan's shirt, a small white mouse poked its head out. Gan petted the mouse's head, and it went back inside. "Yes, I do have friends."

Scarecrow waved at the two newcomers. "Hi. I'm Scarecrow, that's the Tin Man, and the big bison over there is Appa."

When the two reached Gan the little clay girl waved back. "Hi. I'm China, and that's Finley."

"Neat," Tin Man said, crouching to shake Finley's paw.

Toph got a little bit closer to Gan so she could whisper. "Do those two remind you of anyone?"

Gan took a long hard look at China and Finley. "Well now that you mention it, they do look kind of like Jin and Pao."

"Who are those guys?" Finley asked.

"See what I mean?" Toph said, gesturing at Finley while facing Gan. "Same face, different person."

"But you don't know those two?" Gan asked.

"Not at all," Toph said. She sighed and slightly slouched. "That has to mean this place is real. Silver lining, I am not going crazy."

By then China had gotten to the smashed vegetable cart, touching a cabbage half as tall as she was. "We leave you alone for five minutes, and this happens."

"I know," Gan said, crouching beside China and picking up that cabbage. "I thought my luck might change here, but that clearly didn't happen."

"Sorry," Toph apologized again, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well I'm sure he'll buy what's left," China said.

"Allow me," Toph insisted. She cupped her hands and put them together, making a stone cart form from the ground next to the remaining cabbages. "It's the least I can do."

The cabbages were loaded onto the cart and Toph dragged it along, with China leading the way through the Emerald City. At the base of one tall green building there was a store with various fruits and vegetables for sale, with a shopkeeper that was interested in adding cabbages to his produce line. That shopkeeper was a little disappointed that the quantity was rather limited, but still purchased the remaining cabbages from Gan.

When the deal was complete Finley walked beside Gan. "So where to next?"

Gan shrugged, and then turned towards Toph and the two others with her. "You said something about finding a way back home?"

"Yeah," Toph said. "I'm told that some Wizard here can do lots of impossible stuff."

"But no one ever sees the Wizard," Finley said.

"Well we're going to," Toph insisted, cracking her knuckles. "One way or another…"

But not right away of course. Appa was still sleeping off the effects of the poppies, having apparently breathed in a lot more of it than Toph or Momo had. Once Appa was finally awake and moving around the group had to actually find this Wizard, as Toph hadn't gotten anything more specific than the Emerald City. However the largest of the green towers in the city was so ornate that it might as well have 'Wizard Lives Here' written on it, so the group went there first.

When Toph knocked on big fancy doors a small hole opened up above their heads, and a munchkin in a fancy suit stuck his head out and looked down. "State your business."

"We're looking for a Wizard," Toph said.

"No one can see the Wizard," the munchkin gatekeeper said.

"That's what I told her," Finley pointed out.

"Quiet you," Toph said, then went back to the munchkin gatekeeper. "So why can't anyone see the Wizard?"

"No one has ever seen the great Oz," the gatekeeper answered. "Even I've never see him."

"So how do you know… he… exists…" Toph trailed off, noticing a rather nervous fidgeting from the monkey-bird. "Finley… have you seen him?"

Keeping his arms and wings rather tight, Finley was trying and failing to look innocent. "I… might have peeked… once upon a time…"

The munchkin gatekeeper squinted, then put a pair of glasses on, and squinted again. "Now wait just a minute… I've heard about you. You were there when the great Oz exiled the Wicked Witches to the east and west."

"I try not to brag about that," Finley admitted.

"I would have it tattooed on my chest," the gatekeeper said. He held up a finger before turning away. "Hang on a second."

"What's he going for?" Toph wondered aloud.

When the gatekeeper found what he was looking for he reappeared. "I'll see to it that the Wizard knows you're here. In the meantime, enjoy these day-long passes to the Emerald Spa. You should look your best if you get to see the great Oz."

The gatekeeper handed out several slips of paper, one for each in the group. When Toph got hers she couldn't tell what was on it, but the looks of everyone else confirmed that they were what the gatekeeper claimed. "Thanks."

"Enjoy," the gatekeeper said, going back inside and closing his little hole.

"So… did he just shut us out or not?" Tin Man wondered.

"I think he did," Scarecrow said.

"Eh, let's use these things anyway," Toph suggested, turning away from the door. "If he doesn't let us in when we come back, I'll just break us in there instead."

The spa was just around the corner, open and welcoming to everyone that passed through the doors. It was quite fancy inside the spa, with beauty care services of every variety available. At the front desk Toph and the others handed over the day-long passes, and a munchkin receptionist let them pick whichever services were to their liking. They each chose something different, and each got their own room to enjoy it in.

Scarecrow enjoyed a room where servants replaced his brittle old straw within him with fresh new straw, making him feel like a brand new scarecrow when they were finished. Finley enjoyed a fancy bubble bath that soaked through his fur and the skin beneath, with stylists getting him cleaner than he had been in years. Tin Man delighted in being buffed and polished to a shiny new finish, feeling just as new as the day he had been built. And Momo bathed in a simple bath, chirping all the while

China sat back in a tiny chair and let an expert craftsman work, applying a fresh coat of glaze that added more vibrant red and blue colors to her clay clothes. Appa snacked on fresh hay while his fur was scrubbed and cleaned, making him luck more fluffy and cuddly to the unsuspecting eye. Gan delighted in a fancy blue bubble bath, where all his stress seemed to be washed away. And Toph relaxed in a thick mud bath, and took a moment to earthbend a freaky face that spooked one of the stylists.

An hour passed by the time all of them were finished, all of them feeling much better than they had been going in. Distraction or not, there was an agreement that the spa had been worth it. So they were in high spirits when they left, and heading back to the largest green tower for another go. But as they walked Toph noticed some of the munchkins starting to look up, followed by panicky reactions with pointing up and screaming.

"What's their problem?" Toph asked, not knowing what had everyone spooked. Whatever it was had Momo growing, seeing something that he knew was trouble.

"Up there," Tin Man answered, pointing up.

"Black smoke," Gan elaborated. He held a hand above his face to shield from the sun, squinting as he tried to make out more detail. "Is it… writing something?"

"Oh No…" China muttered. "She's back. The Wicked Witch is back!"

"Where?" Toph demanded, instantly ready for a fight.

"Up There!" Appa answered.

"She's writing something in the sky," Scarecrow added, just barely making out the witch on a broom leaving black smoke behind her.

"What does it say?" Toph asked.

It took a minute for the witch to finish her skywriting, and then Gan read it aloud. "Surrender Toph."

"That's it?" Toph questioned. "That's all she wrote up there?"

Finley nodded. "I take it you ticked her off? And she probably thinks everyone will panic and turn you over to her."

"I'd like to see her try," Toph dared.

Gan turned towards Toph, thinking she had to be crazy after all. "You want to fight someone that can fly, and supposedly has magic powers?"

"Rather unimpressive magic," Toph said. She extended one finger for each thing she listed off. "Smoke tricks, rather lame firebending, and apparently flying. Really the only 'magic' she's done is that disappearing act."

"Yet she still wrote a demand in the sky," Scarecrow pointed out.

"Yes, wrote, in the sky," Toph emphasized. She waved a hand in front of her unfocused eyes. "To threaten a _blind_ girl."

"Point taken," Gan said. He looked up, and then back to Toph. "Well the smoke's starting to fade, and I don't see anything else happening."

"I doubt she would do anything to you here anyway," Finley said. "Not with the Wizard so close."

"Oh right," Toph said. So she started walking again. "We've got somewhere to be."

In minutes they were back at the largest green tower, and after a knock on the door the gatekeeper opened his little hole and poked his head out. "Back already?"

"Yup," Toph said. "And we're seeing the Wizard whether you want us to or not."

"Oh really," the gatekeeper said. "What if I tell you to go away?"

"I do this," Toph said. She slammed a fist against the door, and a narrow gash split vertically through the metal. "Only bigger."

The gatekeeper gulped. "Just a moment."

Sure enough when the gatekeeper went back inside, the doors swung open almost immediately. The gatekeeper then stood out of the way, allowing the entire group to walk inside. Toph led the way into the tower, following the largest hallway and ignoring the doors that her feet told her led to dead ends. Soon they reached the end of that hallway, the path opening up to large room with many pillars holding up the high ceiling.

At the back of the room there was a silver throne, with a set of white organ pipes behind it. Four large braziers were lined up beside the throne, each one occasionally spewing flames upward. A fog appeared behind the throne and billowed around the sides, obscuring the base of the organ pipes from view. The throne itself started belching flames, throwing smoke upward and filling much of the air with a thin white haze.

" **I Am Oz! The Great and Powerful! Who are you?"**

Toph flinched at the loud voice, coming from ahead and echoing in the room. Yet she couldn't find a body to match the voice. "And where is Oz?"

The others were all trembling to various degrees, but Gan kept somewhat calm and leaned towards Toph. "There's a large green head floating in the smoke."

"So that's the Wizard?" Toph said, gesturing to where she thought it had to be but still couldn't see it. "The Wizard is a floating head?"

" **Silence!"**

"Make Me!" Toph dared.

Appa was cowering behind Scarecrow and Tin Man, but he did lean towards Toph and whisper. "Maybe we shouldn't antagonize the Wizard now?"

"If he really is a Wizard," Toph said. She started walking forward, still not having a body for the voice. "So far all I've seen is smoke and fire."

" **You dare insult the Great and Powerful Oz?!"**

"I dare a lot of things," Toph answered. As she walked more of the room revealed itself to her sight, and she noticed a curtain come into focus along the edge of her range. "And right now I dare you… to… oh now wait a minute!"

"What is it?" Scarecrow asked.

Toph took a few more steps, and then pointed a finger at the curtain. "Momo, Sick Him!"

The lemur leaped off Toph's shoulder and soared through the air, heading straight for the curtain. Momo slipped through the curtain, disappearing to the people looking at him. They heard the lemur's high pitched shrieks, someone screaming, and sounds of a struggle. The curtain was thrown open and a middle-aged overweight man came out, with Momo clawing at his face while the man tried to swat the lemur away from him.

The opened curtain also revealed some machinery behind it, looking like the controls to something else. There was a screen depicting a view of the large room, one from above and in front of the group of people standing before the Wizard. The Wizard itself had gone completely still, and the fires next to it had diminished to a low burn. Momo continued attacking the man until he tripped, and then flew back to rest on Toph's shoulder.

"Now who is that?" Appa wondered.

"A fraud," Toph answered. She walked up to the fraud of a Wizard, who was just a man now getting back up and on his feet. "What's your name?"

"Oz," he answered, back on his feet. "Not so great, not so powerful."

"I see that," Toph said. "So what, you've tricked everyone into thinking you're some mighty Wizard. Why would you do that?"

"It is a long story," Oz said. Then he looked at Finley, knowing that furry face anywhere. "Which _someone_ seems to have forgotten."

"Sorry," Finley said. "How was I supposed to know she'd see through it all?"

"You knew?" China asked Finley.

"I may have met the guy before," Finley admitted. He stepped forward and held his paws apart before Oz. "Hey if I knew she could see through the entire ruse, I would have done something to throw them off the trail."

Oz looked at Toph. "How did you see through it anyway?"

"I see with my feet," Toph answered, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "It's all about the vibrations that I feel. Stuff like curtains and walls don't mean squat to me. If you're on the floor and close enough to me, I'll see you."

"Impressive trick," Oz said. "I'd say you're a better Wizard than I ever could be."

"I think the proper word would be witch," Scarecrow corrected.

"Whatever," Oz said. "So what did you come here for in the first place? I may not be a Wizard, but I might still be able to do something."

Toph pointed to herself and everyone else in turn, and listed off what everyone wanted. "I want to go home, he wants to go home, he wants a brain, he wants a heart, he wants courage, and I actually don't know what those two want."

"A home," China answered.

"Money," Finley answered.

"Works for me," Toph said. "So mister not a Wizard, is any of that doable?"

"Well not by me," Oz admitted. He closed his eyes to think, and when he had something he opened them again. "You'll need magic to send you home."

"Well I don't have any," Toph said. "All I've got is my feet and my earthbending."

"Earthbending…" Oz muttered, seemingly savoring the sound. "Now that's a word I haven't heard in a very long time."

"So you're from the world we came from too?" Gan asked.

"Yes," Oz said with a nod. "A freak storm took me away and put me here. With the war at home already over eighty years old and the Fire Nation winning, I decided to stay here where I could forget the war and live in peace."

"And rich, don't forget the riches," Finley reminded.

"Yes, and the riches," Oz admitted. After acknowledging that selfish part of his past he got back to the matter at hand. "Anyway, magic, if you don't have any of your own, you will need to take it from someone else."

"Like that Wicked Witch," Toph suggested.

"Or the one that's already dead," Oz suggested. "I'm told that someone killed her just the other day. By dropping a house on her if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, I did," Toph said.

"Excellent," Oz said. "When a witch dies her magic is stored in her most prized possession, so that another witch can claim it and add the dead witch's power to her own."

"So that's why the witch wanted those shoes," Toph muttered.

"Ah yes, the ruby slippers," Oz said. He looked down and saw Toph's bare feet, her toes wriggling freely. "You don't have them?"

"About that…" Toph said, patting the back of her head. "They were screwing with my feet. And they wouldn't come off. So I destroyed them."

Oz pinched his nose. "And you destroyed the magic along with them."

"Sorry," Toph said. "In my defense, the good witch never said I would need them."

"Glinda? Yeah she is annoying that way," Oz said. "Still, all is not lost. We'll just need the other witch's power instead. I assume you've met the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"We have a score to settle," Toph answered.

"You're going to have to kill her," Oz said. "Once that's done her power will be stored in her favorite broomstick, and bring it back here."

Toph smiled. "Now why didn't you say that in the first place?"

* * *

After a good night's rest in the Emerald City, it was back on the road for Toph and her merry band of travelers. Unsurprisingly it was back on the yellow brick road, and down the part that they had skipped in coming here. However there was a fork in the road halfway down that part, and there they had to take a right turn onto a dirt road. That path led into and old and dark forest, with gnarly trees that seemed to suck in the light itself.

Fortunately there was a convenient sign post along the way, with one arrow directing them towards the witch's castle. There was also a warning sign to turn back now, suggesting a fate of certain doom for those who did not heed the warning. Appa certainly wanted to heed that warning, and Gan was certainly in agreement with him. Scarecrow and Tin Man had to stop Appa from leaving, and Toph made sure that Gan and Finley didn't leave either.

"Why did I let you bring me along again?" Gan asked.

"Because I could use another meat shield," Toph joked. Now she tapped on the sign, as it was only a few planks of wood to her. "What does this thing say?"

Scarecrow volunteered to read it aloud for Toph. "Haunted Forest, Witches Castle one mile, I'd turn back if I were you."

"Well at least we're going in the right direction," Toph said. "Wait a minute, if we're only a mile away, how come we haven't met any resistance yet?"

Tin Man was the first to hear distant howling, and he pointed a thumb at the sky ahead of them. "You were saying?"

"Oh dear…" Gan muttered, seeing the threat coming for them.

An entire flock of monkey-birds was inbound, darkening the sky with their numbers. They resembled Finley with their fur and wings, but their muscles were thicker and their faces more feral. The flock closed in and dived towards the trespassers, under orders from the Wicked Witch herself to take the foreigner alive. The rest of them were of no concern to the witch, and so the flock had permission to do whatever they pleased with them.

"Here they come!" Scarecrow yelled.

"Let them come!" Toph yelled back. She braced her legs, held up her arms, and smirked. "I'm in the mood for some good old fashioned _Violence!_ "

Toph summoned a boulder out of the road and launched it at the howling she heard, and her attack struck the middle of the flock. The monkey-bird in front was crushed and ones behind it suffered broken bones, and they crashed down to earth beside the boulder. Monkey-birds that narrowly missed the attack flew to the sides, some flying into their comrades beside them. Before they knew it another boulder was crashing through the flock, dropping another half dozen of them out of the air.

Feeling the vibrations from foes impacting the ground, Toph got an idea of the numbers they were facing. To deal with greater numbers Toph switched to dredging a wall of rock from the road, and then shattering it into a spray of airborne shrapnel. A dozen monkey-birds were caught in the shrapnel and their wings were broken, all of them crashing next to the earlier victims. Still more of them kept on coming, and Toph kept on bending more rock at them.

The first wave of monkey-birds landed on the road and in the woods, surrounding the group on all sides. There was nowhere to run, and so they could only fight. Scarecrow ripped a branch off a tree and swung it like a club, bashing in monkey-bird heads whenever he could. Tin Man was punching them with his metal fists, and after the first few foes his knuckles were quite dented. Appa quite simply charged through the flock, knocking them down with his entire large mass.

While the second wave of monkey-birds landed Finley had gotten mixed in with the flock, and his attacks from within sowed confusion amongst the monkey-birds. Gan tried to stay out of everyone else's way, figuring that he would only get himself hurt like his precious cabbages always did. China had climbed up Toph's leg and back to get on top of her shoulder, and was pointing out targets that were in Toph's quite literal blind spots.

"Everyone Get Down!" Toph yelled. She crossed her arms and summoned a dome of stone around herself, and she noticed everyone complying with her demand. "Here It Goes!"

Toph threw her arms out and the stone dome exploded, throwing stone shrapnel in every direction. The others had all gotten down and the flying rock went over their heads, and right into the monkey-birds just beyond them. Rows of them were brought down by the wide area attack, clearing the space around Toph and the others. More of the flock swooped in to replace their fallen, and were in turn struck down when Toph repeated her earthbending attack.

"Do these guys ever learn?" Toph wondered, doing her earthbending attack for a third time.

It seemed that they did, for the monkey-birds held back long enough for most of the propelled stone to drop and miss. The flock swarmed in the sky directly above Toph, and then dived straight down as if inside a funnel. China warned Toph just in time for her to raise another stone dome, only this time the diving monkey-birds slammed into the thing. The first few of them crumpled against the rock, while the rest pulled up just in time and spread out across the battlefield in every direction.

The monkey-birds swamped the battlefield and quickly overwhelmed the others, who were just barely keeping the foes from tearing them limb from limb. Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Appa had gathered together, each with half a dozen monkey-birds on them at a time. Finley was hiding amongst the bodies of the fallen monkey-birds, pretending to be another limp body that wouldn't be noticed. Gan was screaming at the top of his lungs, since several pairs of paws had grabbed him.

"GET THEM OFF ME!"

Yet they did not tear Gan apart. Instead those monkey-birds picked him up, and then started flying again. Gan dangled underneath the monkey-birds carrying him off, and as the ground fell away he saw a dozen more monkey-birds behind the ones holding him. When those monkey-birds were some distance away the rest of the flock took off, leaving the battle behind with their foes still intact and the fallen left where they lay.

When it was over Toph sank her stone dome back into the road, which barely resembled a road at this point and looked more like a gravel pit. "Is everyone alright?"

Scarecrow was putting loose straw back in himself. "I need a minute."

Finley pulled himself out from amongst the fallen monkey-birds. "Filthy, but fine."

Tin Man banged out some dents in his body. "I'll be limping for a while."

China climbed down Toph's back and leg to get back on the ground. "All good here."

Appa was sitting with his legs curled up. "Let's never do that again."

One voice was missing, and Toph couldn't find the person in her sight. "Where's Gan?"

* * *

Gan didn't stop screaming the entire time, much to the annoyance of the monkey-birds carrying him. They took him beyond the end of the forest, where a large castle stood against cracked rock and dark skies. The castle had several towers that stabbed at the heavens, and the monkey-birds took him towards the tallest tower. Near the top there was an open window, and the monkey-birds tossed Gan through it before coming in after him.

Hitting a wooden floor hard, Gan found himself in a room lit by torchlight. "Ow…"

"What is this?!"

That voice got Gan to look at the other end of the room, where he saw the Wicked Witch with his own eyes. She was absolutely furious, though at the monkey-birds instead of him. Now that Gan could see the witch he noticed a passing resemblance to the Fire Nation Princess Azula, even if her skin was green and was wearing black clothes. The furious look certainly helped, if only by the reputation he had heard of about the princess.

"I told you to bring the foreigner to me!" the Wicked Witch yelled at the monkey-birds.

"We did," one of them answered, pointing at Gan.

The Wicked Witch looked at Gan, then back to the monkey-birds. "You brought the wrong one!"


	4. End of the Line

Chapter 4: End of the Line

For a moment there, Gan believed he was about to join his cabbages in the great garden in the sky.

Here he was trapped inside a tower of a large castle, staring at the Wicked Witch with plenty of monkey-bird henchmen around her. He had no bending, no weapons, no armor, nothing at all to defend himself with. He was completely at the mercy of the Wicked Witch, and she did not look like the merciful type. All he could do was wait for the end to come, for rescue could not get here in time. Yet the end did not come, for the witch was staying her hand for some reason he did not know.

"Uh…" Gan muttered, wondering why he still lived. "Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Not just yet," the Wicked Witch said, though keeping that option available. "When I have something to gain from killing you, then I'll do it."

That didn't bode well for Gan, trying to seem as small as possible and hope the witch might forget him.

The Wicked Witch seemed to have more pressing matters, as she went back to addressing the monkey-birds. "Triple the guard around the castle and seal the entrances. Toph will arrive here soon, and I want everything to be ready when she does."

* * *

"That's a lot of guards…"

Scarecrow was saying what most of the others were thinking, now that they were close enough to see the witch's castle for themselves. The forest had been left far behind them, and the only cover here was the small hills that dotted the landscape in front of the castle. So far they hadn't been spotted, even when they stuck their heads up and out of a crevice to look at what they were dealing with. But they had a good view of the castle, and the forces stationed there to protect it.

In groups of six the guards marched around the perimeter, wearing identical black uniforms with a red stripe down the middle, along with helmets covered in what looked like raccoon-possum fur. Each guard was armed with a long halberd with a curved blade, and as the guards marched they kept the halberds pointed up. Two groups of guards were marching in opposite directions in front of the castle's main gate, while six more groups were marching around the castle's walls.

The castle's main gate was currently open, so that another hundred guards could march through. They considerably thickened the patrols around the castle, as well as substantially increased the security at the main gate. Once the last of the guards were outside the castle the main gate was closed, locking the guards out until the alert was over. To pass the time the guards employed a casual chant, using a rhythm of sound that was easy to speak in synch.

"The hell are they saying?" China wondered, hearing the guards' chant from their vantage point.

Momo was on the ground mimicking the march, chirping an imitation of the guard's chant.

"I'm not sure," Tin Man admitted. He turned his ear toward the sound and listened. "Is it 'O E O, E O'?"

"Are you sure?" Appa asked. "I'm hearing 'wo we wo, yo-oh'?"

"You two are deaf," Scarecrow said. "It's clearly 'All we owe, we owe her.'"

"Almost," Toph said. "I hear 'Oh we love, the old one.'"

"I'm just hearing 'oreo' over and over," Finley said.

"I think we're all hearing what we want to hear," China speculated.

"Yeah maybe th- wait, shush!" Toph paused to touch the ground and listen to her surroundings. "We've got company! Behind us!"

Everyone hunkered down in their little crevice, and when they were all quiet they could hear footsteps coming their way. Toph could see that one group of six guards had circled around the back of the hill and were now coming up the back side, heading to the hill's peak where they could drop down into the crevice. Toph figured that this group of six guards had spotted them and were coming here to investigate, but they had no idea what they were getting into.

At the right moment Toph tugged with her arm, and the dirt at the peak crumbled underneath the guards' feet. All six of them lost their footing and fell into the crevice, right into the waiting fists of the misfit gang. The ensuing melee was a chaotic one, with guards struggling to get upright while everyone else was beating on them. Toph had buried two of them in rock when Appa grabbed hold of a halberd, which he clobbered a guard on the head with the wrong end of the weapon.

In about a minute the fight was over, with all six of those guards out cold and somewhat buried into the hillside. Toph felt the ground and checked for more guards, but she couldn't see any of them within range. Still she figured that more would not be far behind these ones, especially when they weren't going to be reporting in. It seemed that the others had the same thoughts, as Scarecrow and Tin Man were trying to remove the uniforms from two of the half buried guards.

"What are you doing?" China asked.

"Getting disguises," Scarecrow answered. "I'm thinking that if we look the part we can get inside."

Tin Man was pulling off a coat from another guard. "Plus the extra protection couldn't hurt."

"One problem," Finley said, holding up a guard helmet. "These things don't cover the face. They'll know it's not the right guys when they see those mugs of yours."

"He's got a point," Appa said. "Besides, the thing won't fit me anyway."

"So we stick to my usual plan," Toph said, putting her fists together. "Bust in there and sort it out later."

"Okay, first of all, we'll surely be killed if we do that," Finley said. "So, we go with another plan."

* * *

Still stuck in the tower, Gan passed the time by looking out the window. Although it was a grim and dark place outside, there was a great view of the castle's courtyard just inside its walls. He could see an entire legion of castle guards standing in formation, seemingly lying in wait in case an enemy attacked. There was a drawbridge at the main gate, currently closed while the caste was on high alert. The whole place looked impenetrable, at least to Gan's eyes.

Until he truly thought about how the Wicked Witch behaved. She had left him alone in this room, with only a locked door and a pair of guards outside to keep him in here. The walls of this room were all stone, so it would be child's play for an earthbender to get in or out. Either the witch didn't fully understand how earthbending worked, or she still had trouble altering her strategy to accommodate a foe that commands the earth.

Right when he was building up his hopes, Gan heard the door unlock and open from the other side. He saw the Wicked Witch enter, and he did not like the smug look on her. "What do you want?"

"Just seeing if you've made yourself at home," the witch answered. She walked over to the next window over, leaning with her elbow resting on the windowsill while still facing Gan. "Enjoying the view? I love seeing my realm from up here."

"It is something alright," Gan admitted, taking another look outside.

The witch smirked. "And if what I've heard is true, it will be better right about now."

That was when Gan noticed movement out there, and on a closer look he could see the drawbridge opening. It was shortly followed by many more of the guards coming in through the main gate, and the legion in the courtyard stood aside to make a path through. Fifty guards were marching in five columns, and in the middle there was a single line of three chained together. Even from here Gan could tell who those three where, and all his hopes were dashed away.

"Toph?" Gan blurted out. "I don't believe it."

"Oh believe it," the witch said, barely keeping herself from laughing. "Finally, I will have my revenge."

"No," Gan said, looking the witch in the eye. "I _don't_ believe it."

* * *

Down in the courtyard the marching guards were escorting their prisoners, eager to present them to their master. Appa was chained in the rear, Toph in the middle, and Finley in front, all with their hands bound by metal manacles and tethered to each other. The guards occasionally shoved Appa along, and they prodded Finley every once in a while. They didn't dare lay a finger on Toph, since the Wicked Witch had made it clear that she was for her.

Yet in all the excitement of having their master's foe in custody, no one had paid close attention to the two specific guards that had brought her in. Wearing two of the guard uniforms taken earlier, along with plenty of bandages on their faces to suggest a fight, Scarecrow and Tin Man were hiding in plain sight. They even had China and Momo hiding underneath the uniforms, and so far the plan had gotten all of them past the front gate.

"Boy you two got a beating."

That remark from a guard made Scarecrow's heart skip a beat, and he had to respond in order to not break cover. "Yeah, the rest of our squad didn't make it back."

Improvising, Tin Man jabbed Scarecrow in the arm. "I told you we should have gone for backup."

Halfway across the courtyard, Toph was reading that other guard's body language. She could tell that he was examining the faces carefully, and his own was tensing up. "Crap…"

That guard suddenly reached for Scarecrow's face, grabbing the bandages and quickly ripping them off. This exposed Scarecrow's face for all to see, and it was clear as day. "Imposters! Seize Them!"

"Saw that part coming," Finley grumbled.

With a quick snap of her wrists Toph metalbent the manacles, looking like she simply shattered them with brute force. Then she raised a fist and a wall of earth rose on her left, blocking the guards on that side. She did the same for the right, front, and back, creating a temporary barricade on all sides. It bought enough time for Toph to grab the manacles on Appa and metalbend them to pieces, but while she did the same for Finley the walls were already starting to crumble.

All of the guards in the courtyard were converging on them now, and the guards that were the closest were hacking away at the barricade with their halberds. Before they could demolish it the front side of the barricade was hurled forward, taking out two of the guards with it. Toph charged out of the broken barricade with the others right behind her, and she was throwing rock at every guard that got between her and the castle.

Right behind her Scarecrow and Tin Man were putting their pilfered halberds to good use, both blocking other halberds from the guards trying to attack from the rear. Neither of them was trying to strike down any of the guards, since they had not a minute of experience with halberds between them. So they stayed ahead of the guards as best they could while deflecting the attacks, silently praying that they didn't get in a lucky strike.

Upon reaching the castle they found wooden front doors, which Toph couldn't bend. "Appa, you're up!"

"Me?" Appa said, sticking close to the powerful little girl. "What can I do?"

Toph smiled, tapping on the wooden doors. "Knock it down."

At that suggestion Appa slammed his shoulder into the doors, putting all of his weight into the impact. Wood creaked under the strain and cracks spread in the middle, a good start for a first attempt. Appa slammed his shoulder into the doors again, and this time wood splintered a bowed inward somewhat. One more impact was enough to break the doors entirely, the wood shattering into large pieces that scattered across the floor inside.

When the doors gave way Appa stumbled through, ending up on his back. "Didn't know I had it in me."

"Everyone inside!" Toph ordered, urging everyone else through. "We're storming this castle!"

But first there was the matter of the legion of guards that were right behind them. Toph dealt with it by raising a rock wall where the doors used to be, cutting off the passage with a new barricade. One guard had managed to get through before the wall went up, and he was quickly brought down by the trio of Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Appa. Toph threw up an extra layer to the rock wall, and she could hear the chipping of halberd blades against the rock on the other side.

"That won't hold long," Toph admitted.

Still underneath Scarecrow's pilfered uniform, China poked her head out the neck hole on the back side. "So what do we do now?"

"Find the witch, kill the witch," Toph said.

"Any specifics?" Finley asked.

Toph shrugged. "Honestly, at this point, I'm just going to wing it."

* * *

Gan couldn't help but laugh.

Sure the Wicked Witch was downright furious, but that threat to his life hadn't really changed. His doubts about the capture of Toph had been proven correct, understanding that it had all been a ruse to get past the wall. Now the self-proclaimed greatest earthbender in the world was inside the castle, with a score to settle with its resident dictator. It was only a matter of time before Toph found the Wicked Witch, and Gan's only wish was that he could get to see it.

"You're in for it now," Gan said. "That little lady made my life hell by accident. She's going to utterly wreck yours when she gets to you."

Not in any mood to talk the Wicked Witch was on her way out of the room, but she stopped when she reached the door. Ideas ran through that head of hers, and she turned back towards Gan. "But will she go through you to get to me?"

That silenced Gan, honestly thinking that the answer was yes.

* * *

"Hello… what do we have here?"

Still on the ground floor of the castle, Toph was searching for the Wicked Witch and hoping that she was foolish enough to fight her on the ground. That didn't appear to be the case, as the witch wasn't anywhere that Toph could see. What she did see was a room filled with all sorts of trinkets, from small baubles to unique clothes to exotic pointy things. She wasn't sure what this room was, but her closest guess was some kind of trophy room.

So naturally Toph's first instinct was to knock down the door. "Alright boys, take your pick!"

China cleared her throat to call attention to herself.

"Sorry," Toph said.

"So we're adding a little pillaging to our invasion and hopefully witch-burning?" Scarecrow said. He shrugged and walked over the knocked down door. "Eh, why not?"

"Dibs on the sword!" Tin Man claimed.

"Be specific," Appa said, seeing plenty of swords.

By then Finley spotted something he wanted, and he dashed into the room to get it. "Mine!"

Sure enough it became a frenzy to claim whatever weapons they wanted before someone else took them. But along the way Scarecrow and Tin Man had to discard the pilfered uniforms and halberds, neither of which were of any real use to them now. Their delay allowed Appa and Finley to get ahead of them, and so those two had first claim on whatever they wanted. Toph just stood back and watched, content in the knowledge that her earthbending would be all she needed.

The first thing Finley got his paws on was a katana, a sword that was just as long as he was tall. While a little off balance for someone of his size, he took a liking to it as he held it with both paws. But before he knew it Finley found Tin Man next to him, claiming a different sword from the wall mounted weapon rack. Tin Man held up a thin and straight jian sword, even though the black blade clashed with the gray metal that was his own body.

Toph couldn't help but notice Tin Man's choice, and she walked into the trophy room for a closer look. "Are you sure you're not really Sokka?"

"You're still going on about that?" Tin Man said, finding a sheath for the sword and tying it to his hip.

"Yes," Toph said. She noticed that Scarecrow was having trouble finding the right weapon, and she was walking by something that seemed appropriate. "Hey 'Crow, try this thing out."

With her foot Toph kicked up a long staff, caught in in her hand, and then threw it over to Scarecrow. The staff spun during the throw, yet Scarecrow still caught the middle of it with his right hand. He then spun it around in his hand a few times, getting a feel for the weapon. Although this staff was just a single solid piece of wood, unlike the staffs back home, it was still good enough to bash someone's head in during a fight.

Scarecrow looked at the staff, and then shrugged. "Good enough."

By then Appa was done with his scavenging, and Toph couldn't help but stare at him. "Whoa…"

Somewhere Appa had a found a set of brown armor large enough for him, even if he had to break open the sides of the torso piece in order to fit his second set of arms. It came with a helmet big enough for his head, which he also had to damage to accommodate his horns. This made Appa look like a samurai, but with a furry beast inside instead of a person. He completed the look by taking not one, not two, but three long swords, the first held in both upper paws and the other two in one lower paw each.

Toph whistled at the picture her feet told her. "Feel tough there big guy?"

Appa's smile reached both sides of the helmet. "Yes."

There was still one person left to find something for, yet no matter where Toph looked there wasn't anything small enough for her. "Sorry China, guess you're out of luck."

However China seemed to disagree, having found something intriguing. "I didn't think this still existed."

"What is it?" Toph asked.

It seemed like an ordinary statue to Toph's sight, but there had to be something more to it to justify China's reaction. The statue was made from a kind of baked clay, with a surface that was very porous. It depicted some kind of legendary warrior that was very out of place here, especially considering the eerie likeness to the only Kyoshi Warrior that Toph knew personally. That likeness to Suki was enough for Toph to see the importance of this statue, even if it didn't appear to be alive.

China turned to look at Toph. "I got an idea. And I need your help."

* * *

Although all the guards in the courtyard were barred from entering the castle, vigorously working to clear the rubble blocking the entrance, there were still a significant number of guards inside. They had all been on the higher floors at the time, and were now assembling around the Wicked Witch's position. She had led them to the third floor of the castle, filling a corridor near the main spiral staircase, and fortified their position to make a stand here.

The Wicked Witch had also brought Gan down from the tower with her, as a little bit of insurance should the fifty guards here not be enough. "Take a good long look. Those stairs are the only way to get up here. When Toph arrives she will be trapped in there."

Gan felt a rumble in the floor, which repeated and got stronger each time. "Don't be so sure of that."

Behind them a nearby wall exploded, and leaping through was Toph.

"Oh Yeah!"

The rest of her group was still standing on a pillar of stone, raised from the ground by Toph to reach this floor, and covered in gravel from the ceilings plowed through along the way. One at a time they charged through the last hole Toph made, entering the corridor behind all the guards. Appa charged through and slammed his armored hide into the guards' flank, trampling over the rearmost line before those guards could even turn around.

Immediately behind Appa were Scarecrow and Tin Man, swinging their pilfered weapons back and forth with no sense of skill or style. They struck down the guards that had had just barely missed a bison trampling, Scarecrow clobbering them with his staff and Tin Man cutting them open with his sword. However the momentum of their attack did not last, and soon the guards were blocking the staff and sword with their halberds and keeping their assailants at bay.

Toph literally brought the roof down on the guards, yanking her fists to make the stone ceiling shatter. Large slabs fell on the guards and crushed some of them underneath, and the rest scattered around the fallen. The break in their defenses allowed Appa to strike with his three swords, at least until the guards could regroup and refortify their position. But just when they thought they could hold of the bison and company, when another foe came charging through the hole.

It was China, standing taller than everyone else.

Apparently the statue she found was a Terracotta Warrior, a rare construct from a far off land in this crazy world. It was also missing its head now, and China was standing in its neck. Her feet were buried in the statue, courtesy of Toph using earthbending to fuse them together. It seemed that anyone made of living clay could control similar material, so long as it was a part of that person. Now that China was one with the Terracotta Warrior, she moved its body like it was her own.

China put one small fist in her other small palm, and the two big hands did the same. "My turn…"

She charged straight into the battle, picking a spot where guards were trying to get around Appa. Those guards raised their halberds to block, and China's new fists struck and broke their shafts in two. Her fists continued on to strike those guards in their respective faces, and the blows from living stone dropped them like rocks. China then continued on to attack more of the guards trying get around everyone else, clobbering everyone that got within clobbering range.

And during all the fighting Finley was staying behind everyone else, holding up his pilfered katana but not actually using it. "I'll just be back here… providing moral support."

"Just stay out of the way," Toph said, right before she knocked down another wall and ran through.

"Can do," Finley said.

Meanwhile, as the rear guard of her forces was collapsing, the Wicked Witch was retreating to what should have been the front lines. Two guards were dragging Gan along with her, keeping that little insurance handy. A an intersection near the staircase the witch made a left turn, walked down another corridor for a little bit, and stopped at an open window. The Wicked Witch stuck her head out the window, and called for reinforcements.

"To me my pretties!" She took in a deep breath and shouted even louder. "Come to me!"

Soon the sky was filled with monkey-birds, flying down from the castle's towers and coming to the witch's call. While their numbers had been reduced during the last encounter with the earthbender, the monkey-birds were still a force to be reckoned with. Soon they reached the third floor and were flying in through all of the windows, filling the outer corridors and quickly joining the guards. Although it was very difficult to fly indoors, the monkey-birds managed to go over the guards and straight to battle.

The reinforcements brought the rag-tag team's momentum to an end, and they were now fighting on the defensive. Appa took the brunt of the monkey-bird assault, slashing with all three swords as the flying enemy kept on coming. This left Scarecrow and Tin Man the task of holding off the guards, which had regrouped and were pushing back. China was alternating between the two different threats, sometimes even grabbing monkey-birds by the tails and slamming them into guards.

Now that the tide of battle was turning, the Wicked Witch indulged in some maniacal laughter. "Soon it will all be over, and I will have my vengeance!"

Then Toph burst through a wall. "Sup."

The Wicked Witch grabbed Gan, holding a hand at his throat ready to conjure fire. "One wrong move…"

"And you kill him," Toph finished. "Lady, I barely know the guy. He sees me as the bad guy, and I only brought him along because I didn't have anywhere else to put him. So for your sake, I hope your revenge plan doesn't hinge on me hesitating to attack a hostage."

"You're bluffing," the witch said.

Toph jerked her arm around, and a slab of rock broke from a wall behind the witch. It slammed the Wicked Witch in the back, and struck Gan as well. "Damn it!"

Both of them cursed, and there the similarities in reactions ended. Gan dropped to the floor and stayed there, feeling something wrong with his back and that moving would make it worse. The Wicked Witch got back up, and had to duck when another chunk of wall came her way. She then threw a fireball down the corridor, which was stopped cold when part of the floor rose upward. The Wicked Witch then left Gan for dead, and with her broomstick in hand she jumped out a window.

That part of the wall shattered at Toph's command, but the shrapnel she propelled completely missed the target. "Where is she going?"

"You hit me!" Gan screamed, having to shout over the wind coming in from outside.

"You'll live," Toph said. She hurried to where Gan lay, facing the hole and into the wind. "She won't."

A maniacal laugh told Toph that the Wicked Witch had taken to the air, judging by the sound moving up instead of down. On her broomstick the witch was flying around the castle, making a loop around the perimeter before coming back to the hole Toph made. The only clue Toph had to the witch's location was that maniacal laugh, constantly moving and making it impossible to predict her next move. So Toph went with the only option for fighting while truly blind…

Attack _everything_.

Toph thrust her arms out and the whole wall shattered, and the individual bricks shot out into the air. The Wicked Witch flew around the shrapnel, and she saw Toph repeat the attack again. Each time Toph attacked more of the castle was eaten away for ammunition, like a wound that steadily grew bigger. Some of the floor and ceiling were used too, quickly consuming the corridor that Toph and Gan happened to be inside.

Gan saw the witch dodging all the flying rock, gradually getting closer and she weaved through the air. He spotted the witch making a steep dive, and he pointed a finger at her. "There!"

Now that she knew where to strike, Toph threw everything there. Half of the remaining corridor broke off and flew there, converging at the spot the Wicked Witch was about to be. She attempted to pull up but it was too late, she crashed right into the airborne stone. The rubble and the witch fell out of the air, most of the former crashing into the courtyard well the latter fell into the castle. The Wicked Witch crashed back in the now mostly destroyed corridor, collapsing onto a floor about to collapse.

Unfortunately the corridor was no longer structurally sound. Gan forced himself on his feet to get off the crumbling floor, cursing as the pain in his back got worse. Toph grabbed the inner wall and earthbent some hand and footholds, hanging on to the wall as the floor fell out from under her. The Wicked Witch fell with the crumbling stone, crashing into the second floor half buried in rubble. Some of the ceiling crumbled next, dropping even more debris on top of the witch.

At the edge of still stable floor Gan collapsed, one hand on the floor and the other reaching for his back. "Just bring the whole place down why don't ya?"

Toph thought that was a good idea and slammed her fist into the wall she clung to, earthbending cracks that spread up to the fourth and fifth floors. She then quickly got out of the way, scampering across the wall to reach Gan. The rock above collapsed and two floors worth of rubble fell to the second floor, crushing the Wicked Witch under a ton of rock. There was a scream that came from down there, abruptly cut off by the thunder of a manmade rockslide.

"I think she's dead," Toph said. She faced Gan. "Do you think she's dead?"

Gan looked over the edge, seeing a pile of rubble that spilled out the hole in the castle. "I'm pretty sure she's dead."

During all of this the others had been fighting the guards and monkey-birds, and they had been pushed back all the way to the other side of the castle. Scarecrow's straw was spilling out of tears, Tin Man's body was punctured in places, Appa's armor was cracked and broken, and China's new body was cracked and chipped just about everywhere. Even Finley was cut and bruised, having been forced to fight when his back was against a wall.

But then the fighting came to an abrupt end, the guards and monkey-birds ceasing their assault. All of them looked around in a confused stupor, as if they had suddenly woken up from an endless dream. They backed off from the group they had been fighting, who in turn stopped fighting and let the conflict come to an end. A look of realization spread across them all, that only one thing could have just happened right now.

"She's dead…" one guard muttered. "The Wicked Witch is dead!"

Toph could tell that the fighting had stopped, as the remaining guards were just on the edge of her sight. She took a moment to earthbend some loose stone into a back-brace for Gan, the least she could do for causing that injury in the first place. Toph also crafted a stone crutch out of a chunk of wall for Gan to use, allowing him to limp along at a slow pace. Then Toph made part of the floor to slide down the inner wall, bringing them down to the rubble that crushed the Wicked Witch.

And right about then Momo landed on Toph's shoulder, and she pointed a finger into the lemur's chest. "Where have you been the entire time?"

"You lost track of your pet?" Gan questioned.

"He's always disappearing during the big fight," Toph said. "This time I completely forgot about him."

"I suppose you would," Gan said. He then changed the subject. "So the witch's body is down here?"

"Let's just make sure she really is dead," Toph said. She cleared the rubble with earthbending, finding the remains of the dead witch. "Huh… she melted."

"Is that supposed to happen?" Gan asked.

"I guess," Toph said, shrugging her shoulders. She cleared away more of the debris, taking care not to disturb the remains. "Now then, wasn't there something we were supposed to take?"

"The broomstick," Gan answered.

"Oh right," Toph said. She took a look around and found it next to the witch's remains. "Uh… Whoops."

The broomstick was in pieces.

* * *

Word of the Wicked Witch's dead spread like wildfire, reaching the Emerald City long before those responsible for it arrived. The city was celebrating with a party unlike any other, the festivities grand and the alcohol flowing freely. Although Toph certainly wanted to take part when she found it, there was business to attend to first. The largest tower in the city was her first destination, just Toph and Gan off to see the not so powerful wizard one more time while the others partied.

Oz didn't bother the theatrics this time, having brought a simple chair in front of the large throne. He could only stare at the broken broomstick laid before him. "Is one simple task too much to ask?"

"Sorry, was too busy trying to kill that witch," Toph said.

"Well you did that at least," Oz said. "So… How did you do it?"

"Crushed by her own castle," Toph answered. She had an amusing thought and laughed. "I just realized something. The first witch was crushed by my house, and the second witch was crushed by _her_ house."

"Real amusing," Oz muttered.

Gan shook his head and picked up a piece of the broomstick. "So is there another way to get home?"

"That depends," Oz said. He looked past everyone here. "Ah, there she is."

It seemed that Oz had invited Glinda to the Emerald City, and here she found Toph and Gan with Oz. "It is good to see you again."

"Wait, hang on a second!" Toph interrupted. "If you know how to send me home, why didn't you tell me when we first met?"

"After you broke the magic ruby slippers on purpose?" Glinda retorted. "I think you owed me a favor."

"So you set me loose to kill the Wicked Witch for you?" Toph figured.

"In short, yes," Glinda answered.

Toph burst out laughing. "You manipulative witch. That's just… wow!"

Gan dropped the broomstick piece he held. "Well then if you can send us back, let's get going."

Glinda nodded. "It will only take a short while to prepare transport."

It turned out that the transport was a hot air balloon, similar to what the Fire Nation used but larger and more colorful. According to Glinda the balloon would take them to the rift that bridged the two worlds, crossing over to take Toph and Gan home. Right now the balloon was in the middle of the Emerald City, surrounded by all the citizens still celebrating the Wicked Witch's death. The fact that their apparent savior was leaving didn't stop the festivities, but rather an excuse to keep up the partying.

Outside Toph met with the three she found along the brick road one last time, petting Momo while she made her goodbyes. "Well guys, this is it."

Scarecrow smiled, feeling far more confident than before they had met. "Thanks for getting me off that post. It's been a wild ride."

Tin Man had a little rust near his eye, too late to wipe away tears. "We're going to miss you."

Appa hugged Toph, not noticing when she couldn't breathe. "I'll be thinking of you every day."

Meanwhile Gan was saying goodbye to the two he had met here. "Thanks for sticking by me."

China hugged Gan, having kept the body large enough to do that. "I wish you could stay."

Finley decided not to make it a group hug. "I don't blame you for wanting to leave."

After all the goodbyes it was time to leave. Oz personally manned the balloon, being the only one here qualified to operate it. Crowds around the balloon cheered their heroes as they got into the balloon's basket, wishing them a fond final farewell. Toph and Gan's friends were waving the entire time, close enough that the two could almost touch them. Then Oz stoked the furnace that heated the balloon, lifting the basket off the ground and taking the three into the air.

At that moment Toph's world shrank to the balloon and basket, though she could still hear the crowd cheering them. "How long is this flight going to take?"

"According to Glinda, not long," Oz answered. "If it makes you feel any better, just keep telling yourself 'there's no place like home.' I hear it calms the nerves."

"There's no place like home," Toph repeated. Momo looked at her and shook his head. "Yeah, no, I don't think it works that way."

"Well then just power through it," Gan suggested. "It'll be worth it to tell your real friends everything that happened over here."

"They wouldn't believe a word of it," Toph said, and Momo nodded.

"I could vouch for you," Gan suggested.

"No," Toph said. "They wouldn't believe you either. So let's just keep this between you, Momo, me, and your cabbages."

 _A/N: And so this little side story comes to an end. Feels good to finally have it out of my system._


End file.
